A man injured alongside author Salman Rushdie in a knife attack on a New York lecture stage told jurors that he tried to stop the assault once he realized it wasn't a prank and was left with a gash above his eye.

The author recounted in vivid testimony the moment when an attacker stabbed him about 15 times as he was about to give a lecture in western New York.

Matar was apprehended on Aug. 12, 2022, after authorities say he rushed the stage of the Chautauqua Institution's amphitheater and repeatedly stabbed Rushdie, 77, and injured Henry Reese, 75, who was on stage with the author.